“I’ve given We Three Kings an exotic, Middle Eastern feel and there’s an African harp on O Tannenbaum, which almost makes you imagine the Christmas tree is shaking the snow off its limbs.”

Cerys made the album with her three children – Glenys, aged nine, Johnny, seven, and Red, three – in mind.

“I travel around a lot at Christmas and I wanted a sound track that my children and I would enjoy in the car. The album has turned out to be very special so I want to share it with everybody.

“It will appeal to forever children, not just young children.”

The Cerys By Candlelight show at Birmingham’s Glee Club on December 9 will not be your usual run of the mill concert.

She explains: “I love winter and Christmas – the nights drawing in and telling stories around a real fire. It can be quite magical and I wanted to create a magical show. So there’ll be a bit of history, a bit of poetry, a bit of banter and some ghost stories.

“Hopefully, I’ll pick up some Birmingham ghost stories. I’ve played The Glee Club before and it’s got a low ceiling and very good acoustics so you can hear a pin drop, which means we can have some really scary moments.

“Of course there’ll also be a lot of brilliant songs,” she adds. “Scottish murder songs, traditional Welsh songs, great American songs like Ring Of Fire and Crazy, a couple of old Catatonia songs and a big dollop of classic carols.”

And the club really will be lit by candles.

“There are one or two venues on the tour that don’t allow real candles because of health and safety. I’m not sure if Birmingham is one of them but we’ll have candles of some sort, although they may have to be fuelled by batteries.”

The 43-year-old says that one of her most special festive seasons came three years ago when, on Christmas Eve, she was finally able to take her youngest child home from hospital, one month after he was born eight weeks premature.

As for presents, Cerys says she wants a garden.

“All I’ve got is a little patch of concrete with some pot plants,’’ she moans. “And a neighbourhood cat uses them as a litter tray. It’s never the most glamorous of starts to the day when you’re emptying your pot plant of cat poo. It’s horrible.

“So I’d like a garden but I don’t think Santa can do that in London.”

Cerys must be one of the hardest working mums in showbusiness. Besides writing and recording (six solo albums to date) she is also a radio dj and documentary maker, a children’s book author and a judge for the Dylan Thomas Literary Prize.

And she’s recently been appearing on stage with the Welsh Ballet company.

“They said they loved my collection of traditional tunes from a couple of years ago and wanted to choreograph a ballet to it. I said yes straight away because I’m a frustrated ballerina and it was the only way I was ever going to get to Saddler’s Wells.

“They showed a lot of vision and it was one of the most exciting shows I’ve been a part of.”

In fact, Cerys has been so busy she’s not had time to watch the current series of I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Here. She took part in the jungle-based reality show in 2007, finally being voted out the day before Christopher Biggins triumphed.

She recalls: “I’m not fond of heights and they made me jump out of a helicopter at 12,000ft on a bungee cord. And then I did a reverse bungee jump where I was put in a giant rubber catapult and let go.

“I won all the stars for that trial but all we got to eat that night was a crocodile paw. We put it back in the bag and told the producers to take it away and eat it themselves.”

But the experience was worthwhile, says Cerys, because the phone votes raised £40,000 for her chosen charity, Shelter, and her fees enabled her to start a record label.

Cerys Matthews is at the Glee Club, Birmingham, on Sunday, December 9. For tickets call 0871 472 0400 or visit www.glee.co.uk